Introduce the day’s lesson and announce the groups. Kristen Borges
began the class by having students write down a pertinent quote for the
day, in this case by Thomas Jefferson: The constitutional freedom of religion
is the most inalienable and sacred of all rights. In introducing the quote,
Kristen Borges reviewed the meaning of the word “inalienable”
and did a quick review of the First Amendment.

Divide students into their assigned groups: Supreme Court, lawyers representing
the families, and lawyers representing the school district.

Distribute and discuss the rubrics that will be used to assess students’
performance, explaining the standards students need to meet to score well
(see Assessment).

Distribute the Background Information Packet
and Student Instructions. The information
packet used by Kristen Borges was derived from material developed by the
Constitutional Rights Foundation and the Freedom Forum. It contains the
First Amendment and information about previous Supreme Court cases dealing
with religion in public schools. The packet also includes specific information
about the particular case (Santa
Fe Independent School District v. Doe, 2000), including what the families
are upset about, what the school board policy was concerning prayer at
a pre-game ceremony for a football game, and a brief history of the school
district and its strong religious tradition.

The role instructions guide the students through a series of questions
about the case. The lawyer groups are to examine the situation and try
to find an applicable legal precedent. They also have to look at Lemon
v. Kurtzman, which is called the Lemon test, and determines whether
or not government involvement in a situation violates the principle of
separation of church and state. The lawyers also are directed to develop
their arguments and make sure they are sufficiently persuasive to convince
the Supreme Court that a decision in their side’s favor would benefit
society.

The Supreme Court Justices are presented with questions that will stimulate
them to examine the complexities of this case, particularly in light of
precedents, and prepare questions to ask the attorneys at the hearing.

Before directing the groups to work independently, Kristen Borges had
students read aloud the summary of the case and a little bit of the history
of the community where it started. While students worked in their groups,
she walked around asking questions and helping the students go through
some of their background information and narrow down the information to
data that would support their position or resolve questions about the
case. Typically, she asked open-ended questions that either helped students
clarify an issue or redirected their attention from personal opinion to
the issues. Later in the class period, she gently moved the groups from
information gathering to the development of strategies for the hearing.